About WITTENSTEIN

SP+ HIGH SPEED: MORE EFFICIENCY FOR AN ELECTRIC GO-KART

Very high speeds and continuous operation – these are the conditions under which WITTENSTEIN's SP+ HIGH SPEED gearbox performs best of all. A thrilling customer project that will enable RIMO, the electric kart manufacturer, to bring more efficiency and power onto the track with the help of our cutting-edge planetary gearbox illustrates this very aptly. The first field tests, including a trial run at the Nürburgring motor sports complex, show that this is not an empty promise.

THE CHALLENGE: A GEARHEAD TO HANDLE HIGH SPEEDS

THE CHALLENGE: A GEARHEAD TO HANDLE HIGH SPEEDS

What would motor sports be without the thrill of speed? If you want to experience this sense of intoxication close up, you can savor the realistic racing atmosphere of an indoor go-kart track, where recreational drivers put a huge load on the gears as they fight it out in their small, four-wheeled vehicles. The gears have to fit into a very small space and be designed to withstand high speeds and high breakdown torques. The gears in the electric karts manufactured by RIMO – a company which has been operating in this area for twenty years now from its base in the Sauerland region north-east of Cologne – are no exception. Georg Roters, Head of Production, invited WITTENSTEIN to a field trial. The SP+ HIGH SPEED gearbox took pole position with ease.

THE CUSTOMER: RIMO GERMANY

THE CUSTOMER: RIMO GERMANY

RIMO Germany is a go-kart manufacturer with the ability to produce in-house. RIMO karts are exported all over the world. The portfolio also includes electric karts equipped with 2 x 2.8 kW motors and separately actuated rear wheels.

THE SOLUTION: A CUSTOM BUILT ALL-ROUNDER

THE SOLUTION: A CUSTOM BUILT ALL-ROUNDER

The SP+ HIGH SPEED planetary gearbox is a genuine all-rounder that can be tailored to each customer’s individual requirements. Since the disk brake and wheels of RIMO’s electric go-karts are mounted directly on the output shaft, a special shaft had to be developed by WITTENSTEIN for this purpose. The gearbox version selected by the customer was simultaneously manufactured to handle very high speeds. WITTENSTEIN gearboxes have a nominal input speed of 4500 rpm; the RIMO gearbox was tested at 6300 rpm – for three hours solid at no load with the kart jacked up.

THE BENEFITS: “COOLER, FARTHER, LIGHTER”

THE BENEFITS: “COOLER, FARTHER, LIGHTER”

After witnessing the hardness test, Roters needed no more convincing: “Twenty-five electric go-karts will definitely be built with SP+ gearboxes”. He said this even before the final trial run at Nürburgring, which only served to underline his altogether positive first impression. “WITTENSTEIN's HIGH SPEED gearboxes heat up to about twenty degrees less than conventional, oil lubricated models”, Roters explains. “That’s good news for both the gears and the kart.” The SP+ HIGH SPEED’s superior no-load running torque, which is effective protection for the battery, is a further advantage. The electric go-karts thus need far less electricity to complete a lap.

“We also save around a kilo in weight”, Roters adds. “That makes a world of difference in motor sports!” Incidentally, the original motor sound for the electric go-karts comes out of loudspeakers – so it’s an asset that the alpha gearboxes are much quieter than the ones RIMO used previously. Nothing gets in the way of an authentic driving experience! There’s one more benefit that generally goes unnoticed by go-kart drivers, though to Georg Roters it’s all the more important: “WITTENSTEIN alpha guarantees us shorter delivery times, which means we don’t need to stock any inventory”.